If You Go Down To The Woods Today
by Spirit Burner AKA Chick Feed
Summary: My second ever go, this time attempting a longer story. Please forgive my mild Dyslexia. I only did this cos the hubby said I should. I promis not to bother anyone again!  Mainly hurt Dean and a race against time by Sam and Bobby.


IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY…

**1.**

Sam Winchester looked up from the book he was reading. For once it was for relaxation, not research. The cause of his distraction headed over to the refrigerator, opened it and stared long and hard inside before letting loose a drawn out and heavy sigh. Sam marked his page and put his book down,

"What are you looking for Dean?"

His older brother threw himself down into an old overstuffed armchair, one leg hooked over the chair arm, before answering,

"Something to eat."

Sam smiled,

"You can't be hungry, we ate just an hour ago. No way you're ready for more after what you managed to stuff down you."

Dean rubbed a hand through his hair,

"You're right bro'. I'm just so bored. How much longer are we going to sit around doing nothing? I'm going stir crazy, I truly am."

It was Sam's turn to sigh, he knew from long experience that a bored Dean would quickly turn into a pain in the ass Dean.

"It's called taking a break, you know? Having time off and we were both ready for it. I know I was exhausted, you looked like you were feeling it too. Why don't you go find out what Bobby's doing? He might need a hand."

Dean shook his head,

"Already offered. He's out in the yard messing with one of his old wrecks. Told me he could manage perfectly fine without me and why didn't I come find out what you were up to."

Sam laughed. He guessed Bobby was fed up of hearing how bored Dean was. It had been a week since their last hunt. Before that they had been constantly moving from one job to the next since the Hell Gate had spewed out enough demons to make an army. Sam also recognised that Dean was using the job to distract himself. After all, who would want to dwell on the fact that due to having cut a deal with a Demon, every day took them closer to payback time when Dean would die and his soul go straight to Hell. Sam still clung onto the belief that there was a way to stop it happening. For one, Ruby had told him she could help. If only Dean could stand to be in the same room as her they might be able to figure something out, but Dean was of the frame of mind about Ruby that suggested the only way he'd spend time with her is if it was to gloat over her dead body, host or no host. Sam didn't much like the fact that Ruby was a demon either, but he had to believe she could help, he'd got nothing else.

Sam gave up on any thoughts of going back to his book. He stood and stretched,

"OK. Get us a beer and I'll go on line, see if there's anything interesting locally."

Dean grinned and leapt from his chair, his response reminding Sam of a puppy who knows it's about to be taken for a walk.

"One beer coming right up my geeky little brother."

It wasn't long before Sam turned the laptop so Dean could see,

"What about this? Might be our kind of deal."

Dean quickly scanned the top of the page Sam was showing him. It was a piece written in a local paper for a town only a hundred and twenty miles north from where they were. Dean frowned then looked up at Sam with one eyebrow raised,

"Ape Man! Are you kidding me? You want us to hunt Big Foot?

**2.**

Bobby paused in the doorway,

"Did I hear right? You two are going after Big Foot? Why in God's name would the pair of you be doing that? Don't you two think there's enough trouble out there without setting off to pointlessly hunt a harmless legend?"

Sam glared at Bobby,

"I didn't say anything about Bigfoot, it was him!"

As Sam pointed accusingly toward Dean, Dean affected a look of innocence,

"Me? You're the one who's suggesting we go hunt an Ape Man...man"

Sam smiled sweetly at Dean at the same time as he kicked Dean's shin under the table,

"Ow!"

Ignoring his irritation of a brother, Sam focused on Bobby,

The report calls it, or him, an Ape Man because that's how the eyewitnesses described what they saw. It doesn't say anything about Bigfoot, Sasquatch or even giant Teddy Bears having a picnic."

Bobby looked more interested,

"There's eyewitnesses? Wait till I grab a beer then fill me in".

Now with the attention of both Dean and Bobby, Sam outlined the events contained in the newspaper report.

"About seven months ago a woman called Grace who was in her early twenties went missing. She's described as being a quiet, pleasant girl who was devoted to looking after her Dad who has Alzheimer's. She went missing from home and her dad told the local police that she went outside to check out a noise and that he saw her carried away by a circus gorilla. Trouble is there was no circus in town and there isn't a zoo locally. It wasn't Dad who reported Grace missing. That was discovered when one off the staff from Dad's day centre called round 'cos Dad hadn't attended for a couple of days. Apparently every time they tried to ring Grace, Dad would pick the phone up, sing a couple of verses of My Way, then hang up again."

Bobby cuffed Dean around the head as Dean tried to laugh and swallow his beer at the same time. Sam continued,

"Despite a search there was no sign of Grace and it was assumed that she'd finally got fed up of being her Dad's carer and had simply left. It was thought that the big gorilla that Dad talked about was probably a secret boyfriend and that she'd run off to be with him although even the local Sheriff said that would be totally out of character for Grace. About a month after Grace went missing there was another disappearance. No one linked the two at the time because the second case involved a child, 8 year old Jack Hurst. He went missing from his parent's back yard. Mum realised when she went out to check on him. There were no witnesses and no sign of him has ever been found.

Dean leaned back in his chair a thoughtful look on his face,

"Same age as Ben….But it's still sounding like missing person's cases, what makes it different Sammy?"

Sam paged down to the end of the article,

"Well. Since then there have been other disappearances, four in fact, one every month. Three of them were young women, the other was another kid. An 11 year old boy this time. In two of the cases there were eyewitnesses who gave pretty similar descriptions. They both said they saw someone very tall in or around the area just before the disappearances, guesses vary from eight feet tall to 12 foot. They described the figure as looking like it was covered in fur like a gorilla and that it looked more like an upright walking ape than a man. One of the witnesses claims he saw the ape man carrying off one of the female victims and that he tried to follow. He told the police that the thing moved too fast for him to keep up. Poor sod reported it to the police, then found himself the prime suspect for a while.

Apparently the local Sheriff's department and volunteers from the town have been out regularly searching the outlaying area, abandoned buildings and parts of the surrounding forest. It says they've only ever found one trainer and that it was the same as the kind worn by one of the women victims. According to the paper it's three weeks since the last disappearance. Extra forces are joining up with the town's police to put on high visibility patrols. Parents are talking about keeping their kids off school and indoors for the coming week. All young women are being advised to stay indoors or to make sure they have a male escort if they go out anywhere."

Dean quickly stood up, a happy smile on his face,

"Right. No time to waste then. Get packed you two."

Bobby looked at him,

"So, can I take it that you do think there's a job there?"

Dean spread his hands, his smile becoming wider,

"Hell yes. You heard what the paper said. Damsels in distress needing handsome escort to keep them safe and look after them. So, what are we waiting for? That town needs us."

With a final grin Dean bounced off, whistling to himself, to start loading up the Impala. Sam looked at Bobby,

"What do you think?"

Bobby shrugged,

"I guess we can afford a little side trip if it stops your brother getting under my feet. It'll be a wassit, bus driver's holiday."

**3.**

Once outside and away from Sam and Bobby, Dean slowed his pace down and allowed the smile to slip from his face. Popping the trunk to the Impala he uncovered the arsenal it carried. He cast his eyes over the selection of offensive and defensive items that always travelled with himself and Sam. With what they carried he and Sam could take on almost any kind of supernatural headache. Almost. Dean knew that they had no protective potion or hex bag, no gun or knife that would be any more effective than a marshmallow when the year that he had been granted by the Demon came to an end. Poor Sammy, he was desperately looking for a way. Hell, Dean hoped that by some miracle he could find one; but not if it meant Sam himself had to die. No way Dean would allow that. He would rather jump into Hell shouting "Gerronimo!" than see that happen. Dean sighed as he closed the trunk, the Winchester Curse. Something so powerful between them that they would die for each other; already had in some cases. Even Dean, who prized family above all else, couldn't deny how dysfunctional their family relationships were, so why the willingness to sacrifice? Why did they keep dying for the love of each other? And what the Hell made them so damn afraid to live for the love of each other? Dean smiled grimly to himself, come on Deano, leave the navel poking to Sammy and get your head on the job.

It didn't take too long before they were on the road. Sam and Dean in the Impala, Van Halen blasting out from the cassette player. Bobby followed behind in his truck. As always the first task was to find a base they could work from, in this case it was the Forest Motel. At least that's what the sign said in daylight. When it was lit up in orange neon at night it became the "rest Motel". The motel itself had proven to be surprisingly busy. The owner explained that there were a lot of media folk and hunters in town all hoping to either film, capture or kill the Ape Man. Bobby, Dean and Sam had to make do with one room with two singles and a cot bed between them.

The room itself had a shower room and even a small kitchenette. As well as the beds there was one small wardrobe, a dressing table and two supposedly "comfy" chairs. All the electrics worked and there was hot water when it was needed. It looked like someone cared enough to make sure the net curtaining was clean and the place had obviously had a thorough dusting recently. All in all not too bad, if you ignored the colour scheme of dark chocolate brown and ice cream lemon which was not just in the sleep area but was also repeated in both the kitchen and shower room. Of course this kind of detail never did matter to the three men, these days they rarely even noticed what colour was on the walls. One motel pretty much blurred into another. Only the really good ones ever stood out.

Bobby pulled the net curtain to one side slightly as he watched through the window whilst a hapless camera man took a whole mountain of verbal abuse from a smartly dressed female who was clearly his Anchor Woman. Bobby turned back to Sam and Dean who were perusing a map of the town they had picked up in the motel lobby,

"Well. At least with so many strangers flocking into town we're not going to stand out any. Which do you fancy? Intrepid journalists or backwoods hunters?"

Dean stood up and stretched his back,

"Neither of those. There's so many of them in town right now, why would any locals talk to us in particular?"

Sam nodded,

"Dean's right. We do actually need to stand out for once. Any ideas?"

Dean grinned,

"You hear that Bobby? I'm right."

Bobby crossed his arms,

"Yeah. Savour it. Have you got a plan or not?

"Actually, I have. We need to get the eyewitnesses and any family of the missing thinking we're the ones that can actually help them out and can get something done about their Ape Man. Most normal people don't know too much about the FBI other than what they see on TV. I figure we tell them we are members of an elite FBI Ranger group who's brief is to track, hunt down and deal with situations like the Ape Man. We tell them we've been dropped in without the Sheriff's Department knowing and our presence needs to stay secret. That way, if we need to talk to the Sheriff we can make like we are just more journalists or whatever and we don't need to wear the suits. It'll be more believable if we're dressed rough, like we're undercover and ready to head into the forest."

Bobby levelled his gaze at Dean,

"Elite FBI Rangers who's job is to deal with the unexplained? Don'cha think that's a little X Files son?

Un-phased Dean nodded his agreement,

"Sure is, but I guarantee it will get the people we need talking to us because they'll see us as being the ones that believe them. The ones that are ready and skilled enough to take some action on their behalf. Also, it's cool"

Sam joined in,

"So. You're ready to buy into the Ape Man story then?"

Dean gave a short laugh,

"Come on Sammy. 'Cause not. No way do I think that Big Foot has suddenly taken to wandering into town to pick out an innocent kid or some woman to run off with. Why would Big Foot, if it existed, risk being caught? As far as I know all the reports and supposed sightings of Big Foot seem to describe it as actively trying to avoid contact with humans. The kind of stuff that's happening here would be totally against his M.O. No, I still think what we've got here is a human douche bag serial something or other who's got a thing for fur coats.

**4.**

With all the activity created by the influx of media, huntsmen and saddo's who had come simply to watch, it wasn't hard to find out where each of the victim's had lived.

The three of them decided to leave Grace's, the first victim, Dad until last on the basis that he was unlikely to remember much, if anything at all. They began with the home of little Jack Hurst. Bobby had decided to wear his suit and had also decided he was going to play the role of Sam and Dean's boss,

"To lend credibility,"

was how he put it. All three men rode in the Impala.

When they pulled onto the close where Jack had lived, they found a removal truck parked outside the family home. A petite auburn haired woman was hovering round the removal men, she was crying and begging them to be careful with the large wooden trunk they were carrying. A tall gawky looking man was trying to reassure her and move her out of the way. He looked like he was missing quite a few night's sleep.

"Mum and Dad I guess," Sam commented.

Dean parked up, careful not to get too close to the truck, he didn't want any accidental damage to his beloved car.

Bobby took a deep breath,

"Right. You let me handle this. Just follow my lead and try not to ask any dumb questions."

Sam and Dean glanced at each other, Dean shrugged and fished out his fake ID. He and Sam followed behind as Bobby approached the couple, a solemn look on his face. As he got close he held up his ID card,

"Mr and Mrs Hurst? My name's Daniel Glover, I'm with the FBI".

He indicated towards Sam and Dean,

"These are my men, Agents Janus and Dick. We'd like to talk to you about your son's disappearance."

Mr Hurst looked towards Dean who Bobby had christened Agent Janus and gave a weak laugh,

"I do hope your first name's not Hugh…"

His attempt at humour was left hanging as Dean, his expression blank, simply said,

"No Sir. It isn't,"

Bobby gently took hold of Mrs Hurst's arm. Turning her away from the removal men.

"Ma'm, I know this is difficult for you but really, we're here to help if you'll let us."

Mrs Hurst looked up into Bobby's eye's. Whatever she saw there, she appeared to relax a little and manage a small smile,

"Please Mr Glover, come into the house, we still have a kettle. Would you and your men like a drink?"

Sam noticed that Mr Hurst looked relieved, possibly because his wife had been distracted from shadowing the removal men.

Sam and Dean trailed behind as Mrs Hurst, holding onto Bobby's arm, lead the way into the house.

Inside was the chaos you would expect when in the middle of moving house, but the kitchen was relatively packing crate free and the kitchen table was still there. Everyone sat down whilst Mrs Hurst took drink orders. Mr Hurst focused on Bobby.

"We've already spoken to the local and state police. There have been searches but nothing found. No offence intended but, how come you're here now?"

Bobby took a moment, his head hung, before he looked back at Mr and Mrs Hurst.

Dean surreptitiously nudged Sam, he always enjoyed watching Bobby work.

"I guess, Sir, we're here because what happened to Jack isn't the isolated incident it was first thought to be. We're also here because we are specialists. I know that, as parents, you want answers. You need to know what happened. You need to know whether Jack is still alive as you both hope he is. You need to know why and you need to know who. You can't properly take your next step until you know these things. Sure, you're moving away from the area, from the bad memory, but it's killing you both doing it. You feel it's betraying Jack. That it's somehow disloyal. That it says you're giving up on him.

Mr and Mrs Hurst, it's our job is to answer your questions and to catch this person, or thing, so that no other family around here is left feeling like you two are right now. Something has to be done. Me and my team are specialists in the FBI. The two agents I've brought with me are the best in my team. They are expert Rangers. They can track, hunt and if necessary kill pretty much any living thing. It's what our section does. The FBI use us when the run of the mill techniques fail and when it looks like we are searching for the impossible, like your Ape Man. We're not here to question what people say they've seen. We're here to make certain no one else gets hurt, whatever it takes."

Mrs Hurst, having made drinks for everyone, sat down at the table with them. Eye's shining with tears she looked across at Bobby,

"How can we help?"

Sam looked across to where Dean, like he, was squatted in the Hurst's back yard looking for any signs of tracks or anything else that might be useful,

"Found anything yet?"

Dean shook his head and stood up,

"Nothing unusual. No footprints in XXL. No blood. Nothing. The thing had to have jumped the fence to get to Jack. The only other way into the yard is through the house which would have taken him, or it, through the kitchen and past Mrs Hurst. Unless the thing can turn invisible, Mrs Hurst would have seen it. Once it got Jack and assuming it then jumped back over the fence there's only two places it could have gone. Straight into town, or across that field and into the forest. My guess? It headed for the trees."

Sam gave up his searching,

"That would seem more likely than finding an Ape Man buying rounds in the local bar."

Dean gave Sam a playful shove in response as Bobby called them from the house,

"Either of you found anything useful down there?"

The three of them left the Hurst's having been given their new address and contact number. Bobby assured them that he would call if anything came to light. Mrs Hurst hugged him goodbye.

Sam had spotted a narrow cut through running between two of the houses that was obviously an old access path onto the field. Sam and Dean, being more appropriately dressed for the occasion, chose to stay and take a walk across the field, setting off from the back of the Hurst's and heading towards the forest. They agreed Bobby should go into town and try to make contact with one of the eyewitnesses. Booby arranged to return in three hours to pick them up if he hadn't heard from either of them earlier. Sam and Dean stood and watched as Bobby drove away in the Impala.

Making their way down the overgrown pathway to the field had it's difficulties. Both men found they had to walk stooped over to avoid low hanging tree branches and trailing strands of ivy. Underfoot they found themselves wading and stumbling through empty tin cans, broken bricks, food packaging and at least a couple of car tyres. Once onto the field they were able to stand upright but found themselves faced with a barrier of stinging nettles. Sam nudged Dean,

"Over there, there's a trail where the nettles have been flattened."

Finally they made it onto the open field. Sam looked at the rubbish littering the floor in the near vicinity,

"Looks like this must be some kind of make out spot. At least they seem to be having safe sex."

Dean looked down and realised he was stood on two discarded condoms,

"Gross! Who'd bring a chick here? Where's the romance in having outdoor sex on a dump site? It's dangerous man. Just think of the places all this broken glass could end up!"

Sam grimaced,

"Please. Not a good image. How far along do you think the Hurst's back fence is?"

Once they reached the back of the Hurst's property they stopped. A direct route from the Hurst's to the edge of the forest pretty much took them across the centre line of the field which followed a steady incline towards the forest. The trees at the edge of the forest looked to be a mix of deciduous and evergreen.

"The police will have already done a thorough fingertip search of the whole area. If there was anything obvious they would have found it already and any tracks left by Big Foot will probably have disappeared by now." Sam commented.

Dean looked at him and smiled,

"So you do think it's Big Foot then?"

"No I don't. I don't know what it is, but Big Foot is as good a name as any right now".

Dean squatted down and brushed at the long grass around his feet,

"I don't think we need to cover the whole field. If Big Foot came this way with Jack, chances are he'll have wanted to get into cover fast and that means taking a direct route, straight across. It's worth us having a look, it wouldn't be the first time we spot something the police missed. If we keep side by side but an arm's length apart we'll cover a wider path, OK?"

Sam nodded and they both began to walk slowly and with heads down across the field.

He crouched, far back enough into the trees to be in shadow, and watched as the two human's began to walk in his direction. A low rumble began in the back of his throat, followed by more rumbling noises, this time from his stomach. He was definitely getting hungry…...

**5.**

Before heading into the town centre Bobby swung by the motel and swapped the Impala for his truck. He didn't want to risk any damage to Dean's car and, anyway, he preferred his truck and his own gear when he was on a hunt. He also took the time to change back into his own clothes, although he kept his fake ID on him, just in case.

"Hang on Dean."

Sam bent down and picked something up. Dean wandered over to him,

"Got something?"

Sam held out a small red button for Dean to see,

"Might be Jack's. Did his parent's mention the colour of any buttons on his clothing?"

Dean shook his head,

"Don't think so. Keep looking."

The creature shifted his position, these humans moved very slowly. He noticed that they kept bending down, like they were looking for something. He remembered the boy he had found around here, he wriggled a lot. The creature remembered snapping the boy's neck when he was trying stop it from squirming whilst he was carrying it. He remembered feeling annoyed. He hadn't meant to break the neck because that left him having to eat the kill in one go soon after getting back to his shelter, otherwise the meat would go off. He preferred to keep his meat fresh for as long as possible, that way he was able to eat over a number of days. The creature would never normally take a fully grown human male, not unless times were desperate. Their meat was tougher and not so sweet. They also had an irritating habit of trying to keep fighting, even after he had begun to feed on parts of them. Sometimes it was funny, but mostly he just found it troublesome.

Still moving in his direction there were two human adult males, an extremely risky take. These two also moved in a way that experience told him meant they were fighters. They were moving slow now, but he recognised they could probably move very quickly by human standards if they had to. He was by no means sure that they would simply freeze in fear at the sight of him and, he guessed if he attacked one, the other might try to defend the target.

The creature continued to watch, trying to decide whether it was worth taking one of these who were right here, right now; or whether to move on to one of his other hunt sites and hope for a lone child or a young adult female. He felt his stomach rumble more persistently, responding to the mere thought of feeding.

Sam and Dean were now only a hundred yards or so from the forest edge and so far the only thing they had was one button which may or may not have belonged to Jack Hurst. Sam indicated the forest edge with his hand,

"I think we should spread out more now, Big Foot could've veered off to go into the forest in either direction depending which way was the best route back to his lair. Ok?

"His lair. I like it. Alright, sure, just don't go wandering into the woods on your own Gretal. Up to the edge of the forest and no further , got that?"

Sam raised an eyebrow and looked at Dean,

"Yes mother and how come I get to be Gretal?"

Dean grinned back,

"Cos you're the youngest and 'cos you've got girl hair, Bitch."

"Jerk."

The creature had just decided to go back into the forest and follow another route towards an area where there was usually lots of young human children gathering to play, when he noticed the adult male's were not sticking so closely together anymore. This could make things easier! He picked his target and began to make his way in the direction of the taller one whilst staying deep enough into the forest to remain hidden in the shadows. As he moved he scoured the forest floor, eventually picking up a sizable moss covered rock, testing it's weight and shape. He wanted his prey quiet so he could carry him without a fight, but he wanted to keep the meat fresh. If he killed his prey at this point there would definitely be waste. Even with his level of hunger there was no way he could finish a meal of this size in one go. Wasted meat was bad, it attracted scavengers.

Dean was virtually at the tree line, he glanced back to see how Sam was doing and saw that Sam was still roughly ten yards back from the forest edge. Dean gauged that there was about 50 or 60 yards separating the two of them. He returned to scanning the ground and finally spotted something. Right at the edge of the forest lay a broken branch. Dean's keen eyesight had honed in on a tiny fleck of red caught in an area where the bark had part peeled away from the branch. Dean squatted down and used his fingernail to tease out his find. It was a half inch strand of red yarn. From the description given by the Hurst's Dean knew that Jack had been wearing a red long sleeved knitted pullover when he went missing. He rolled the small piece of wool between his fingers, trying to imagine how terrified the little boy must have been as he was taken away by some big hairy piece of shit in a fur coat or, possibly, some kind of giant monkey.

Dean stood and turned, about to call Sam over; instead he froze. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to tingle. Someone, or something, was watching them. Dean didn't need to see the watcher to know they were there. His lifelong Hunter instincts meant that he just knew that he and Sam were being observed. Adrenaline kicked in and every muscle in his body tensed, ready for fight or flight.

Instead of shouting out a warning to Sam which would alert the watcher, Dean began to make his way over to Sam. Dean had to force his body to ignore the urge to run to his brother, instead he maintained a casual walking speed whilst at the same time putting his hand on the handle of the gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans.

He had got to within roughly twenty yards of his brother when Sam broke off from his ground search and realised Dean was heading his way. At the same time that Sam turned to face Dean and began to say something, in his peripheral vision Dean caught sight of the slight movement of branches in one particular spot just back from the forest edge. He squinted at the area and made out a solid, large, darker area in the shadows,

"Sammy, look out!"

Sam turned to look in the same direction as Dean as a rock hurtled out from the trees straight towards him,

"Sam! Duck!"

Dean pulled his gun and aimed it in the direction the rock had come from at the same time as he began to run towards Sam. Not needing Dean's instruction, Sam had already begun to move, but not quickly enough. As he tried to sidestep the missile it caught him a glancing blow to the side of his head and Sam went down.

"No! Sammy."

Dean fired off two shots wildly into the gloom and slid the last four yards to his brother's side on his knees. A quick look told him that Sam was conscious but clearly dazed. Blood was already beginning to seep down the right side of his face. With his free hand Dean grabbed hold of Sam's arm, at the same time firing another shot into the trees. This time he heard a howl as the bullet hit something. Hoping it was bad enough to kill or at the very least stall whatever it was, Dean turned his focus onto getting Sam up on his feet,

"Come on Sam. Up. Get up."

Sam was wobbly, but trying to move. Clinging tightly onto his brother he shook his head to clear the haze and began to get to his knees as Dean continued to try to help by one handedly hauling him upwards. With Sam almost upright, both brothers heard a roar followed by the sound of something heavy bursting out of the forest. The sounds were coming from behind Dean so he couldn't see what was causing them, however, the look of shock and horror on Sam's face told him it probably wasn't a naked wood nymph. Still with his grip on Sam, Dean had begun to turn to face what ever it was when his legs disappeared from under him as something grabbed one of them and pulled.

The unexpected jerk and the ferocity of it made Dean drop his gun and suddenly instead of him pulling at Sam, Sam was now engaging in a desperate tug-o-war over Dean, trying to wrestle him from the creature's grasp. Instinctively Dean kicked backwards with his free leg, feeling his foot land against something extremely solid. Whatever had a hold of him roared again and tore Dean from Sam's grasp, dragging Dean at a rate of knots backwards into the forest. Dean heard Sam yelling and saw him scramble to retrieve the dropped gun, then he felt the thing grab his shoulder with it's other hand and he was lifted off the floor at a crazy angle. He lost sight of Sam as the creature, swinging Dean around with him, turned and headed back into the trees. Dean struggled and continued to kick out as best he could with his free leg,

"Let go you sonofabitch! Sam, shoot the damn thing. Sam! You freakin' hairy piece of trash! I'll kill you, you bastard! Sammy!"

He heard gun shot's, Sam cursing, sounds of Sam chasing after them into the forest. The creature was moving with amazing speed deeper into the forest. Dean kept kicking and flailed around with his free hand, trying to gab onto branches, tree trunks, anything he could to slow down the creature's progress and give Sam a chance. The sound of Sam's yelling was fast becoming fainter, trees and undergrowth blurred past Dean's vision. He transferred all his energy now into struggling, hitting and kicking. Suddenly, whatever had hold of him stopped and the last thing Dean saw was the trunk of a tree coming into close up as the creature swung Dean head first into it.

Now the prey was unconscious the creature repositioned it, slinging Dean over it's shoulder like a haunch of meat. There was a vague throbbing kind of pain in the creatures left thigh where a bullet had lodged, it made the creature want to scratch at the area but didn't really bother it otherwise. With the human still and quiet the creature was able to move quickly and unhindered along the route which took it back towards it's shelter.

**6.**

Bobby pulled up in the town centre parking lot. Across the road in front of a café claiming all home made food there appeared to be some excitement. A large crowd of townspeople, media and police were all jostling for position around something in the centre that seemed to be the cause of the shouting and mayhem.

Bobby strolled over, pulling out his ID and using it to make his way into the centre of the crush. He tapped a local deputy on the shoulder,

"Agent Glover, FBI. What's all the racket about Officer?"

The young officer gave a toothy grin,

"See for yourself Sir."

The officer moved to one side so Bobby could see,

"Dumb kid thought he'd have some fun putting the fear of God up one of the lasses in the coffee house. Reckons he did it 'cos he fancies her. Don't think she'll be going out with him any time soon after this stunt though."

Bobby looked from the teenage youth's acned and tear stained face down to the tell tale wet patch around the crotch of the monkey suit he was wearing. The costume head dangled from his limp hands as he stood in the centre of a ring of officers all with weapons out and all of whom had, until he removed the head of his costume, been pointing them at him. Now the officers were concentrating more on stopping some of the towns people from getting their hands on the youth. Bobby couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the damn fool, he turned back to the officer,

"Well Deputy, it seems you've got your hands full here. I think I'll leave you to it."

The officer grinned again and saluted Bobby,

"Yessir."

As Bobby made his way away from the crowd his mobile rang. He checked to see who the caller was before answering, it was Sam,

"Sam. You ok?"

Bobby listened whilst Sam frantically told him what had happened. He set off at a jog back to his truck, still talking to Sam,

"Ok son. Don't move from where you are, understand me? I'm on my way. We'll find him Sam, just don't do anything stupid, you hear me? Don't go after him alone. Did you see what took Dean?"

Bobby skidded to a halt,

"A what?...Sam, are you sure?...You're absolutely certain that's what it was?...Any chance you could've made a mistake, it sounds like it all went down fast?...Ok, ok Sam. Just promise me you'll not do anything 'till I get there, you just promise me….."

Bobby hung up,

"Shit,shit,shit,shit,shit!"

Dust and pebbles flew as he forced the truck into a tight turn and drove towards where he had left Sam and Dean, heedless of red lights he drove through them, blaring his horn as he went and narrowly missing a public bus on route.

Sam was waiting for him at the entrance of the access path to the field. He was pale and agitated. Bobby noticed the blood which had by now dried on Sam's face. Sam ran over to him as Bobby opened up his weapon stash. He turned to face Sam, his expression serious,

"Ok Sam, I need you to get a grip on yourself son. Just so's there's no doubt, describe the thing to me."

"Bobby, I know it sounds crazy, I do. But I do know what I saw and I'm telling you, Dean's been taken by an ogre."

Bobby's head bowed, his gaze shifting to the floor.

"This thing Bobby. It's big and, it's strong. Like Incredible Hulk strong., but it can move. It's got to be at least 10 foot tall".

Bobby nodded and looked at Sam again,

"What did it look like son?"

"Ugly, powerful. It had a huge neck, big shoulders. Jet black skin covered in thick body hair. It didn't have a nose, it had more like a pig's snout. It's eyes seemed tiny in it's face, but they were red Bobby and this thing, it had tusks you know? Like a boar. It had a real wild man of the woods look, long shaggy matted hair and it's arms were long. I get why people thought it was an Ape Man. I think it was wearing mostly furs and skins."

"Did it use any kind of language?"

"No….No, it was howls and grunts, you know? It's got to have some kind of intelligence, it must've been stalking me and Dean for a while without us knowing. I can definitely say it's got a good aim. I tried to after them Bobby, I really did, but this thing was moving unbelievably fast through the forest. I just couldn't keep up."

Sam stopped, waiting for Bobby's opinion,

"Alright son. How you described it? That's good enough for me. I guess we're gonna need the heavy duty stuff then, here."

Bobby handed Sam one of the two Atchisson Assault automatic combat shotguns he had stashed in the truck,

"There's spare ammo in that bag there. Take whatever else you want. These sonsofbitches can be hard to take down. We'll need flashlights, we might be searching into the night. There's a spare back pack here, use it but don't weigh yourself down."

As Bobby spoke he was packing himself a torch, spare battery, cigarette lighter, a can of mace, a small bottle of oil, a bottle of water, a small pair of binoculars, a well stocked first aid kit and a bowie knife. He attached a loop of thick leather to his belt, then hung a war hammer through the loop. He noticed Sam glance at the war hammer,

"Never yet met a skull that one of these couldn't crack son."

Sam picked out a heavy duty mean looking machete as his close quarter weapon, spinning it in his hand, testing it for weight and balance. Satisfied with the feel of it, he moved on to packing the back pack Bobby had given him. Sam too made sure he had a lighter in his pack along with a flashlight, two bottles of water, a 15 foot coil of Dacron rope with a small grappling hook attached and, with no thought of how at odds they may look to anyone observing, two aerosol cans of hairspray.

Bobby shrugged his shoulders, getting his back-pack to settle then he gave Sam a long hard look, his expression giving the clear message of this is serious, we can't afford to screw up,

"Ready?"

Sam nodded.

Deep into the forest and away from any well walked pathways the Ogre stopped and sniffed the air. Satisfied he couldn't smell any intruders he walked into a small clearing where an old forest rangers hut stood. The hut had clearly not been used for a number of years as it's state of repair evidenced, but it had a door, walls and most of it's roof. It was enough. The ogre had to bend almost double to get through the doorway, he also had to put his prey on the floor and drag it through after him. Once inside the Ogre left his prey laying in the middle of the main living area and went to clear the debris of his last meal off a wooden table. Once cleared he went back to his fresh capture, picking it up he laid it out on the table.

This capture was bigger than his usual one's. He positioned Dean so that his legs hung over the edge of the table from the knee. It picked up an old bread knife that looked more like a penknife when the Ogre held it in it's massive hand and began to cut through Dean's clothing.

Confused and by now only half conscious, Dean felt something tugging at his jacket and shirt. The jerky movements made his head ache painfully and he groaned softly, wishing the woman he had picked up would just leave him alone. He half opened his eyes, ready to tell her sorry, not tonight I've got a major headache. The sight of the Ogre cutting off the button to Dean's jeans brought him into sharp, and painful, reality,

"Oh, Christ no. This is a mistake. Honestly? I don't fancy you. I can't help it. No offence, but you're the wrong gender. Hell, you're the wrong species!"

He pulled away from the Ogre's grasp at the same time as he rolled to one side, intending to get off the table and fight. The Ogre sounded a low, guttural growl and, moving far more quickly than Dean expected, he shot out one hand, grabbing Dean by the neck and slamming him back down onto the table. Desperately, Dean began to fight back, punching and kicking. He aimed for the Ogre's eyes, intending to gouge them out. The Ogre in response simply slammed an elbow into Dean's stomach, driving the wind out of him. Dean gasped, frantically trying to refill his lungs with air. He began yelling for help, as loud as he could. The Ogre back handed him hard and Dean briefly saw exploding lights dancing in front of his eyes before he passed out.

The Ogre continued to strip Dean of his clothing. This one was lean, more protein than fat. The Ogre grunted, pleased at his capture. He was going to eat well over the next few days.

**7.**

As they made their way across the field, Bobby considered the description of the creature they were hunting, ,

"The fact that there's an Ogre took up residence round here explains why all the missing folk around here were either children or young women. That's what they prefer to snack on. I doubt we're gonna find any of them alive. Their other name is Anthropophagus, translated it means man-eating. It's a bit misleading. If necessary they can survive on livestock. The males will also eat their own young, so males and females only get together to mate, they don't form a social group. That at least tells us there's only one of these gits around here. That snout you noticed? That gives them a pretty keen sense of smell, it's what they rely on mainly when they're hunting. One take can last them between three and five days, then they don't need to eat again for a while. That's why the rate of disappearances has been roughly one a month. I figure we've got till sun up tomorrow at best."

Sam felt bile rise in his throat, he bent over, resting his hands on his knees and began taking deep breaths until the nausea had passed. When he turned back to Bobby, Sam was visibly pale,

"Dean's it's next meal, right?"

Bobby didn't answer Sam's question, he didn't have to. He and Sam wasted no time and soon arrived at the spot where Dean was taken from. Bobby checked his watch,

"Right. We don't have a whole lot of time to waste on this one. Come on, you take the lead while you think you can still recognise the lay of the land."

When Dean woke he found himself uncomfortably squashed into a three foot by three foot metal cage. His first thought was dog cage, his second was thank Christ it wasn't for a Pekinese, which was closely followed by shit, I'm in the buff! He carefully shuffled himself around until he was in some kind of seated position, Comfort wasn't going to be an option and he grimaced at the feel of the bottom of the cage floor against his butt. He took stock of his immediate surroundings, The whole place stank of ogre, musty, unclean, rank. There was very little light. Dean glanced at his wrist, no watch, he had no idea whether it was day or night. He couldn't see much, the cage was sat in a confined space with some kind of curtain cutting it off from the rest of wherever he was.

"Shit."

His stomach lurched as his gaze locked in on the pile of human bones deposited next to the cage. He frowned, something was wrong, other than the obvious fact that there was a pile of human bones. Finally he figured it, no skulls. Where were the skulls? Not wanting to dwell on it too long, he dragged his attention away from what was left of those taken from the town and back to his own situation.

He smiled grimly as he noticed the cage was secured by a padlock. Maybe he had a chance. He wondered if his captor was around, at the same time there was the sound of a door opening and closing, heavy footfalls moved around the place. Dean heard the sound of something being dragged across the floor and then what sounded like metal being scraped against metal. Question answered then.

Sam stopped,

"I think this is as far as I got before I lost sight of them."

Bobby tilted his baseball cap back and scratched his head,

"Ok. Looks like we're into old fashioned tracking from now on then. Just don't try to rush it. I know you're worried, so am I, so let's make sure we don't miss anything and get knocked off course. This thing will have settled in a cave or an abandoned building and it'll be in deep woodland. Ears sharp and weapon ready. Let's find some sign of what direction it took."

For a moment it went quiet again, then Dean heard more footsteps, they seemed to be coming in his direction. Dean flinched as the curtain was whipped back. He squashed himself as far back in the cage as he could. The Ogre squatted down in front of the cage, unlocked the padlock and opened the cage door. Quickly Dean gauged his chances of making a run for it. Limited space indicated he had no way of scooting around the Ogre, he would have to go through it. From his own cramped position and given the sheer bulk of the Ogre Dean assessed his chances as slim to none.

The creature held out a cracked mug to Dean, clearly wanting him to drink. Dean shook his head,

"No thanks Ugly. Shove it."

The Ogre again held the mug out to Dean, closer this time and Dean caught a smell of the liquid. The stink made him gag. He raised his voice angrily,

"I said no!"

At the same time he tried to knock the mug away but the Ogre, sensing his intent, moved it out of Dean's reach. The Ogre made a noise that sounded like a sigh. He carefully placed the mug on the floor, then reached into the cage and yanked Dean's top half towards him, clamping Dean against it's body with a powerful arm around Dean's neck. Dean fought back, wriggling like an eel, driving his elbows into the Ogre's body. The Ogre tightened his grip around Dean's neck, forcing Dean to stop fighting and instead concentrate on trying to loosen the Ogre's strangle hold so he could breath. The Ogre grabbed the mug with his free hand and shoved it against Dean's mouth. Dean moved his head from side to side, trying to avoid the rim of the mug, the smell of the liquid once again making him want to gag. The Ogre changed his hold on Dean, planting his hand on Dean's forehead, roughly forcing Dean's head back into the creature's chest. Dean couldn't do anything to stop the Ogre from pouring the liquid into his mouth then firmly clamping Dean's mouth shut so he couldn't spit the liquid out again. Dean had no other option, he swallowed.

Sam was a very good tracker, but Bobby was a veteran. The Ogre had been moving quickly and carrying extra weight, he had also been heading into deeper forest where the light levels became lower, leading to less ground cover plants and shrubs. This meant that the floor covering became mostly autumn fall from the trees. It made it easier to spot areas where dead leaves, fallen twigs and the needles from evergreens had been disturbed. Early on Bobby had spotted something on the trunk of a tree, it turned out to be blood. Bobby had to work hard at that point to contain Sam's desperation to find his brother and to keep him from just careering aimlessly through the forest. Together they were able to keep a steady pace, both individually noting that Dean had not managed to leave any signs for them, neither voicing their observation for fear of causing extra worry for the other person. Both knew Dean well enough to know that, had he been capable, he would have managed to leave signs along the way. As the day turned to evening Bobby insisted that he and Sam take a break.

Sam sat with his knees drawn up, resting his head on them. He didn't look up when he spoke to Bobby,

"It should have been me."

Bobby looked over from where he sat, resting his back against the trunk of an old pine,

"Come again?"

Sam raised his head, looking into the distance,

"The Ogre. It was after me, not Dean."

"Oh, I see. And that would be better how exactly?"

Sam shrugged,

"I'm just saying that's all. Dean got taken because he was trying to look out for me."

Bobby looked across at Sam,

"Right. And you being taken would have be easier, 'cos you wouldn't have to be worrying about Dean right now. Well tough shit boy. Get over it. We will find Dean and we will get him outta there and that S.O.B. ogre will die. End of."

Sam took a deep breath,

"Ok, you're right. Let's get moving then, it'll be dark soon."

Dean waited until the ogre had locked him back in the cage and left him alone, then he immediately shoved two fingers down his throat in an attempt to make himself vomit the drink back up. He retched and brought up a small amount of liquid, nothing like the amount he had swallowed. Giving up, he turned his attention to the padlock. Despite the rust it felt solid when he tugged at it. He decided that repeatedly kicking at the cage door was out, the ogre would definitely hear him. He looked around outside the cage, trying to find something within reach that he could use to try to pick the lock open. Prying a nail out of the floor was a none starter, the floor was made of concrete. He stared at the pile of bones, nothing. Dean cursed quietly. He began to feel a little thick headed, then dizzy. He was beginning to struggle to focus clearly and his limbs began to feel heavy. Panic began to set in as he realised he had been drugged. Although he remained conscious, moving eventually became too much of an effort and he slumped against the back of the cage, eyes half closed.

**8.**

It had become dark. Sam and Bobby were now working by torchlight and Sam was becoming more frustrated,

"How the hell are we supposed to spot a cave? We've all on trying to spot the thing's tracks now! What if we don't find him in time Bobby?

Bobby's voice came out of the darkness to one side of Sam, he sounded calm, reassuring,

"We will. We'll make it."

Dean slowly looked around, he figured he must have fallen asleep for a while, it was dark now. His head still felt fuzzy, he struggled to move either his arms or his legs. It wasn't good. He didn't notice the Ogre's approach until the curtain was pulled to one side again. Dean shielded his eyes against the light that that lamp the ogre carried was giving out. The lamp itself looked familiar. Dean focused hard and realised that the lamp was fashioned from a human skull, so that's what happened to them. A flickering candle danced inside the skull, hurting Dean's eyes. The Ogre grasped Dean's right hand, pulling on Dean until Dean's whole right arm was outside the cage. Dean noticed something in the ogre's free hand, a long curved knife. Dean threw his head back and cried out in pain as the Ogre used the knife to slice open Dean's left arm from elbow to wrist. As the blood poured, the Ogre caught it in a bowl. Through drugged eyes Dean saw the bowl filling up with his blood and, as he watched, he felt himself growing tired, weaker. He moaned and tried to move his arm away when, the bowl full, the Ogre brought out a poker, it's tip glowing red hot. The Ogre jammed the poker against Dean's arm, cauterising the wound. Dean heard a scream of pain somewhere nearby, he thought it sounded familiar, then he slipped into darkness.

Sam thought he heard a very faint cry. He stopped dead, holding his breath,

"Did you hear that?"

When Bobby answered his voice was flat,

"Yeah. I did."

"It had to be Dean. Bobby, that thing's hurting him. Are we too late?"

Bobby ignored Sam's question,

"Come on son. Let's find that whore scum and kill it."

Sam took a deep breath. He had heard his brother cry out in pain. Nothing else mattered now, only payback.

The Ogre put the end of the poker back into the fire he had made and sat himself down on the floor, the bowl containing Dean's blood in front of him. Once the tip of the poker began to glow red, he stuck it into the bowl. There was a sizzling noise as it heated the blood up. Savouring the taste the Ogre lingered over his drink.

The forest was dense now with trees growing much close together, clamouring for space. Tracking became harder, especially by torchlight. A couple of times Sam and Bobby had to re-trace their steps to pick up the Ogre's trail again. Sam began to grow more and more frantic,

"We're going in circles Bobby, I'm sure we are!"

Bobby put a hand on Sam's shoulder and spun him around so they were facing each other,

"Stop it Sam! Dean's relying on us. Getting yourself wound up ain't gonna do any good. Calm yourself down and stop behaving like an idjit. You're on a hunt, now start acting like it and do what you do best. That's what Dean needs of us right now, ok?"

Sam nodded, forcing himself to take deep, calming breaths,

"Ok. I'm ok. It's just…hearing him cry out like that, you know?"

Bobby gave Sam a brief one armed hug,

"Not far to go son, then we're gong to give this critter some grief and we're gonna get your brother outta there. You ready?"

"I'm ready. Let's get it done and, Bobby? Thanks."

Drink finished, the Ogre went to check on his food. It was quiet now, eyes closed. The old remedy had made the food easier to deal with, less able to fight back. Now was a good time to prepare it.

Dean didn't react as the Ogre dragged him out of the cage and tied his hands together with thick rope. Lifting Dean with ease the Ogre used the rope to hang him from a meat hook jutting out from the wall. Next to where Dean hung was a metal drainer and sink. The floor directly beneath him was covered in a large dark stain and the wall behind him spattered with dried blood. The Ogre collected a large wooden serving platter from a cupboard under the sink and placed this, along with the curved knife he had used earlier on Dean, on the drainer. Finally he placed a plastic washing up bowl on the floor, positioning it under where Dean's feet hung.

Sam suddenly squatted down, dragging Bobby with him,

"There. Look. Straight ahead, the trees thin out. I can see a hut."

Bobby squinted in the direction Sam indicated, gradually making out a more solid and regular shape which was darker than it's surroundings,

"I see it. Probably an old ranger's hut. Exactly the type of place our Ogre would set up home. I reckon we've found him Sam, we've found Dean."

**9.**

Sam stood stock still, his half closed eyes locked on the isolated building that held his brother, his expression hard. Quietly he muttered a promise to himself,

"It ends here…..tonight."

Bobby turned his head and looked quizzically at Sam,

"What did you say? I didn't catch it."

Sam smiled at him,

"Nothing Bobby. Let's gear up."

Both men made certain their close combat weapons hung on them near to hand then each of them checked their guns and loaded their jacket pockets with spare ammo.

"So. What's the plan son?"

"One of us stays back, in the shadows. Aim towards the top of the door. My guess is that this thing will need to duck to get through the opening. Aim for head shots and keep those bullets flying while ever you've got a clear line."

"I take it I'm the one that hangs back? Dare I ask what you'll be doing?"

Sam clapped Bobby on the shoulder,

"Ever heard of Rosie Knock Knock?"

"What the bejesus are you talking about son?"

Sam looked back towards the hut,

"Kid's game. You knock on the door then hide before the occupier answers. See how many times you can get them to come to the door. I'm going to knock on the door, move back far enough while making sure the thing can still see or smell me. I want it coming after me. I want it out in the open so we've both got clear shots."

"Sounds good Sam. Just one thing, you said this critter can move mighty fast. You sure you can stay out of arm's length and take the shot?"

"No. Not totally sure. But that's why I've got you back here."

Sam now focused his whole attention on Bobby,

"Whatever happens Bobby you've got to take the shot as soon as you can. Even if it grabs me I'll make certain I keep my head down. This thing dies Bobby, got that? It dies."

Bobby took a deep breath,

"Got it."

Something felt out of place to Dean. For one thing, he couldn't feel the floor. In his half drugged state he wondered if he was floating somehow? He tried to lift his head, but decided it felt too heavy right now.. Managing to half open his eyes, he looked down at himself curiously. Vague thoughts ran through his head, making no sense,

"Oooh. Dean boy. You're butt naked!...

Wonder where my arms are?...

Sure I had some arms earlier, two of them…

Gotta be round here somewhere….."

A noise to the side of him drew his half conscious attention. He turned his head in curiosity to see what had made it. An expression of disgust came over his face when he saw the ogre checking the edge on the knife,

"Holy motherf…! You are really freakin' ugly!"

The Ogre looked at Dean, who managed to look embarrassed in return,

"Oops! Said that out loud, didn't I? Awkward."

The Ogre moved to stand in front of Dean. He cocked his head, watching Dean closely. Dean noticed the yellowed and rotten tusks, then he caught a whiff of the Ogre's breath. Dean quickly tried to move away,

"Oh man! Dental hygiene, really!"

The Ogre reached out a huge hand with nails like claws and slapped Dean across the face with his open palm. Dean gasped in surprise. Some of his drug induced fog cleared, and then he remembered,

"Shit!"

The Ogre's mouth twisted into a grotesque resemblance of a smile.

With one leg Dean scrabbled to get a foot onto the drainer, trying to get some solid ground beneath him. With his other leg he aimed a kick at the ogre's hand which held the knife in the desperate hope he might make the Ogre drop it. Instead, the Ogre used the knife to block Dean's kick, slashing Dean's calf at the same time. Dean took a sharp intake of breath at the sudden sharp sting of pain. He managed to stand his other foot on the drainer. Now able to get some kind of balance, he aimed a vicious kick at the Ogre's head with his injured leg. He made contact with the heel of his foot and was pleased to see that he had managed to knock one of the Ogre's tusks out of line. A small amount of dark blood appeared on the Ogre's lip. Whilst the Ogre felt at his damaged tusk, Dean planted both feet on the drainer and managed to unhook the rope around his wrists from the meat hook.

The Ogre roared in fury at the human and, grabbing Dean, flung him to the floor. Dean landed on his back, winded and then the Ogre was on him. It began to repeatedly smack Dean's head against the hut floor until, half conscious, hurting and not sure what was happening anymore, Dean stopped struggling.

Outside at the edge of the clearing Bobby had found himself a spot which gave him cover but also allowed him a clear line of fire towards the hut. He signalled to Sam that he was ready. As Sam began to carefully make his way across the clearing and towards the hut, there was a sudden roar from the Ogre inside and it didn't sound very happy.

Through half closed eyes Dean saw the thing that was holding him down raise an arm. Dean vaguely thought maybe he should do something 'cos the raised arm couldn't mean anything good, but the major headache scrambled his thoughts and he just lay still, waiting. Then came more pain, jolting, red hot, in his right shoulder, Dean could only gasp and try to roll away in response as the Ogre drove it's knife all the way through Dean's shoulder. Dean moaned, wondering if maybe he was in Hell already?

His food finally subdued, the Ogre withdrew the knife from his prey's shoulder and prepared to carve off enough meat for his first meal. The Ogre had years of experience, enough to know how to avoid damaging vital organs too soon, enough to know how to feed off the capture without the prey stopping breathing for at least five days. Once the prey did finally die, it's meat generally stayed fresh enough for the Ogre to fully satisfy it's hunger for another couple of days. Once it had completed it's period of feeding, in common with it's species the Ogre would not need to eat again for another three or four weeks. Ogre's often used this time to seek out a mate or to move on to new pastures if necessary.

The human male moaned again, weakly trying to bat the knife away as the Ogre punctured the skin just below the human's ribcage on one side. Ignoring Dean's fluttering hands, the creature made a shallow incision, following the line of the human's ribs with the intention of removing meat from it's flank. The Ogre grunted in satisfaction when he saw how little fat this capture carried. As the Ogre began to slice deeper into muscle, there was a quiet knock at the door.

The Ogre paused in his task, head cocked to one side and listened, not entirely certain that he had actually heard anything. The prey was making a whimpering sound now and moving it's head from side to side. The Ogre distinguished one word from the prey's sounds of distress,

"Sam.."

At that same moment, the knock on the door was repeated, but this time it was loud and firm. The Ogre sniffed and caught the scent of the intruder, another human. The one he had intended to take. The one who had been with the human who now lay quietly on the floor, it's bleeding wounds adding to the staining caused by the blood of previous meals.

Although for the most part the Ogre was a creature of instinct and learnt behaviours, it could reason enough to know that the human outside was here to try to take this food away. Pulling the knife out of Dean, the Ogre leapt to its feet, threw back its head and howled.

**10.**

Had Sam been simple Joe Public, the bloodcurdling howl from inside the hut would have frozen him in sheer terror. Instead, Sam took it as a signal that the door was going to open very shortly and he moved himself back far enough from the door that the Ogre would have to step fully outside the hut in order to come after him. Sam knew that Bobby would be ready and loaded. Although he knew Bobby's position, the dark ensured Bobby was completely hidden. Sam braced himself, raised his gun and waited for the Ogre to appear.

The hut door crashed open with such force that it came loose from it's top hinge. It was accompanied by a second angry howl. The Ogre ducked it's huge shaggy head and stepped outside. It immediately raised itself to it's full height of 11 feet. At the same time as Sam took aim and fired at the Ogre's face, there was a loud crack of sound from behind him as Bobby also let fly. The two bullets hit within a split second of each other. The Ogre was rocked by the force of the fragmentation bullets and part of one side of it's face disappeared in a shower of bone and blood. Despite this the Ogre continued towards Sam with such a sudden turn of speed that Sam had to throw himself out of the Ogre's path. The Ogre stopped moving as two more bullets from Bobby's hiding place found their target, one in the Ogre's neck and another through one of it's eyes. The beast was now staggering, blood pumping in a long arc from the wound in it's neck. Again it began moving towards Sam, but this time at a much slower pace and holding one huge taloned hand to it's neck, trying to stem the flow of blood. Bobby took aim and again found his mark, adding to the damage already inflicted by removing the rest of one side of the Ogre's face. The Ogre stumbled, feeling the space where the other half of his face used to be. Sam laid flat to the floor whilst keeping an eye on the Ogre's progress,

"Finish it Bobby! Finish it!"

Bobby obliged, his next two shots leaving nothing of the Ogre's head other than the partial stump of a neck and part of it's lower jaw swinging by a length of flesh. The Ogre's remains folded in on themselves and collapsed to the floor in a heap.

Bobby broke cover and ran across to Sam who was scrambling up from the forest floor. Cautiously they both moved toward the creature, still looking for any signs of life despite the Ogre's obvious lack of head. Certain the thing was dead, Sam turned towards the hut

"Dean!"

Bobby reached out a hand, trying to grab Sam and hold him back. He missed and cursed to himself as Sam raced into the hut first. As Bobby ran after him, he saw Sam come to a sudden halt, then sink to the floor as his knees simply collapsed beneath him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Bobby followed Sam into the hut.

The only light was the soft, flickering glow from candles in skull shaped lanterns. Bobby found himself stood in what was obviously the main room of the hut. At one end there was a fire crackling in a large fireplace. The main centre space of the room was taken up with a rough dining table. Against one wall was an ancient cooker, covered in years of grease and grime. Against the wall opposite there was a sink and drainer. Laying on the floor between the table and the sink unit in a pool of his own blood was Dean.

Sam remained in a kneeling position on the floor, his unblinking gaze focused on the body of his brother. Sam's breathing was fast and shallow. Bobby reached out and shook Sam roughly by one shoulder,

"Come on boy. Do something useful, find out if those taps have a water supply. There's a plastic bowl on the floor by the sink, Either fill it from the tap, or use the spare bottled water. Move. Now."

Sam still didn't twitch until Bobby went over to Dean and knelt beside him,

"Bobby? Is….. is he still alive? Bobby?"

Bobby nodded, his face grim,

"Yes son. Dean's alive. Now get your ass over here, I'm going to need a hand."

Relief flooded through every vein in Sam's body. Wobbling slightly he picked himself up from where he had been kneeling and moved to carry out Bobby's instructions.

Occasionally Dean appeared to come round a little. Each time his eyes remained closed but he would moan and murmur, trying to push Bobby's hands away whilst Bobby worked to stop the bleeding and to dress Dean's wounds. At each of these times it was Sam's voice and touch gently reassuring him that seemed to help to calm Dean down again, allowing Bobby to continue with his task.

"How are we going to get him out of here Bobby?"

"I don't see as there's any option Sam. Dean's got to go to hospital and we've go to involve the local Sheriff in all this. The families and the townspeople need to know what happened to their missing. We're going to have to call out the emergency services. This deep into the forest Dean may die if we try to carry him out. We're going to need them to airlift him to hospital."

Bobby tossed his satellite phone to Sam,

"Here. Make the call, they'll have to find us using the phone signal anyway."

"What about the Ogre? How the Hell do we explain that to the Sheriff's department?"

Bobby stopped tending to Dean long enough to look at Sam in amazement,

"Are you kidding me boy? We blasted that damn things head apart. What Ogre?"

Sam gave a slight smile,

"And without a head it's nothing more than some deranged overgrown Ape Man."

Bobby gave a strained smile in return,

"Exactly. No doubt the body will be taken by Government agencies for a post mortem. Whatever they find I'm guessing they'll make some story up about cannibalism and genetic impacts or something like that. No way the Government is going to announce that Ogre's are at large in America!"

**Epilogue**

A week later Dean lay in his hospital bed and checked the wall clock for the 12th time,

"Chrissake Bobby, what's keeping him?"

Bobby glanced up from the newspaper he was reading,

"You're the one that wanted him to sneak you some food in when you can have a perfectly good hospital meal. Have some patience boy. It's not like you're about to rush off anywhere. He'll be here when he gets here."

Dean glared over at Bobby,

"He'll be here when he gets here? Is that supposed to make some kind of sense old man?"

Bobby leant forward and lightly tapped Dean on the leg with his paper,

"Less cheek boy or you'll be watching me eat whatever he brings back for you"

Before Dean could respond, Sam popped his head around the door, his fringe flopping down over his forehead, a broad smile on his face,

"Anyone here order a takeout?"

Dean flinched as he hurriedly sat himself upright in the bed,

"Finally. About time Dude I'm starving. Pass it over here."

Sam handed Dean a brown paper bag which Dean eagerly began to open,

"What you got me?"

Sam cast a sideways glance at Bobby as he answered Dean's question,

"Spare ribs….."

**END**

25


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